Poseidon sinks at US box office

Following last year's poor run of blockbusters, Hollywood had been banking on a sunnier 2006 season. But the forecast looks ominous as Wolfgang Petersen's remake of The Poseidon Adventure failed to dislodge Mission: Impossible 3 at the US box office.

Budgeted at a reported $150m, Poseidon managed a disappointing $20.3m on its opening weekend, which put it in second place. Mission: Impossible 3 clung on to the number one spot although its weekend haul of $24.5m was 49% lower than its gross the previous weekend. Overall, the US box office was down a worrying 13% on the same weekend last year.

Some could argue that Poseidon was effectively torpedoed before its launch, thanks to a barrage of negative reviews. According to Joe Morgenstern of the Washington Post, the disaster picture was "a deeply dreadful movie - no, a shallowly dreadful movie - that's too unpleasant and repetitive to be entertaining, even as camp", while Ty Burr at the Boston Globe remarked that it was "as much fun as a shroud".

According to Claudia Puig in USA Today, Poseidon "almost drowns under the weight of its own soggy tedium". At Newsday, a concerned Jan Stewart concluded: "you know a disaster flick is in trouble when it's only a few minutes in and you can't make up your mind over who you want to die first."

Still, there remains some cause of optimism among US executives and exhibitors, who will now be pinning their hopes on The Da Vinci Code. Ron Howard's conspiracy thriller looks set for better reviews and healthier business when it opens later this week.